The End Is Nigh... "Batman & Robin"

Batman & Robin (1997)

Rated PG-13 for language, violence and ice skating

Starring George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chris O' Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone

Directed by Joel Schumacher

The Story:

Batman (Clooney) and Robin (O'Donnell) are facing the maniacal Mr. Freeze (Schwarzenegger) who is trying to get his hands on diamonds, to create a freeze ray that will turn the world to ice!  He has a hand in the creation of Poison Ivy (Thurman) who uses her feminine ways to drive a wedge between the dynamic duo!  Thankfully, the arrival of Alfred's niece, Barbara (Silverstone) will tip the scales to the side of justice when she becomes...Batgirl!

Oh my...

This was even worse than I remembered.

When the Dynamic Duo become ice skaters in the opening battle of the film, I literally rolled my eyes and checked out of the film.

Which is a shame, because George Clooney gets the lion's share of unfair blame on the failure of this movie.

It wasn't his fault. 

In fact, I have gone on record, many times, that Clooney actually made the best Batman of the 3 that wore the cape and cowl up to that point.

No, it was the terrible script and Schumacher instilling too much camp in a series that had been only wink and nod in that area up to that point.

Final Grade: D+ realm

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, I'm good.

Today We Unveil A "Blast From the Past"

A lot has changed over the years...

The Story: 

Calvin and Helen Webber (Christopher Walken & Sissy Spacek) are expectant parents in the 1960s.  Of course Calvin being a true American, he's ready for the Commies and has built a marvelous bomb shelter under their home.  Fate steps in, and sure enough, the Webbers are forced to use it.  Sealed in for 35 years, they raise their son, Adam (Brendan Fraser) but the day has come when they must go to the surface for supplies.  Adam heads up to get the supplies, and the hope of finding a bride.  And that's when Adam meets Eve (Alicia Silverstone).

It's like destiny!

I proudly admit, I love this movie.

It's both sappy sweet, and funny.

Brendan Fraser gives one of his best performances as the literal thinking Adam who is shocked to see what the world has become compared to what he has grown up learning about it.  He's the wide-eyed boy with a heart of gold and not a cynical bone in his body.

His chance encounter with Eve of course is the perfect balancing act.  She's cynical to the very core, and yet there's something sweet about Adam that makes her unable to be as mean as she could be whenever he's around.

This is Silverstone's second best movie for me, behind Clueless.  Unless you count Batman and Robin.

And nobody I know counts Batman and Robin.

:)

Walken is genius, as always.  His manic persona works effortlessly in this movie, and he's wonderful every moment he's onscreen.

Spacek balances nicely as the loving, but tired of being underground wife.  Thankfully, she's packed almost enough alcohol  to keep her from going insane.

I would be remiss if I don't mention Dave Foley's performance as Eve's best friend.  He's hilarious in his admiration of Adam's lifestyle and helps bridge the gap between Eve and Adam and shows them the obvious clues in their relationship that they are missing.

It's a little charmer, and you can't help but root for Adam in all of his endeavors.

Plus there is the hope and wish that maybe, just maybe, life was as nice as he pictures it in his head.

Final Grade: B+... easy.  Probably A-/A range for me.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I do own, and it used to get watched quite a bit, but hadn't seen the light of day in about 5 years.  It was a nice reminder of how fun the movie really is.

Love at First Bite? "Vamps"

That bites!

The Story:

Two vampires in New York, Goody (Alicia Silverstone) and Stacy (Krysten Ritter) mostly enjoy their night life.  Taking college courses at night and working as exterminators to catch rats and drink their blood.  Yep, they and many other vampires have shunned human blood and concentrate on the vermin of New York as their sustenance.  Ah, but when the Van Helsing family moves to New York, the girls' existence is about to get really complicated...

Following up the latest viewing of Clueless, I wondered whatever happened to Amy Heckerling?

Turns out she wrote and directed this one last year, and brought back Alicia Silverstone (and Wallace Shawn!) in the process.

I'm not sure if she gave up on Hollywood, or vice versa, but there just hasn't been very much Amy Heckerling product in quite some time.

She comes out of the gate in 1982 with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and then enjoys success again in High School in 1995 with Clueless.

Other than that, her career is filled with long gaps from the Director's chair, and even longer since she's had a box office hit.

Vamps apparently didn't help her much, which is a shame, because it is a cute little movie.

Perhaps that was the problem?    It's nothing special that screamed "I must be a movie" instead of something that could have been made for tv.

Her cast is impressive, with Sigourney Weaver playing the stem vampire that turned both Goody and Stacy.  As it turns out, only stems can turn people into vampires, and if a stem is injured or killed, it will have repercussions on the entire line of vampires that the stem had created.

So you can see where the plot device is coming from.

Either way, it's still a better film than Twilight.

: )

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Mostly harmless fun.  Not Heckerling's best, but it's a  movie that I could watch again with no problem.

The First Review of 2013: Like "Butter"!

It was the best of films...

It was the worst of films...

 

The first movie review of 2013!

And it's a film that so far, would make the best of and worst of list, both at the same time.

:)

I'm sure the next 350 some days will provide some other films that will bump this one off of both lists, but for now let's sit back and enjoy...

Butter.


The Story:

The story of the Pickler family from Iowa where the reigning 15 year-in-a-row butter sculptor has been asked to step aside to make way for some new blood.  His wife (Jennifer Garner) thinks that is patently unfair, so she decides to enter the contest herself.  Meanwhile, a little foster girl decides to put her artistic talents to good use sculpting butter.  It's a show-down of epic proportions!

Did I mention this is based on a true story?

Well, at least the fact that people participate in competitive butter sculpting, that part is true.  The rest, I assume, totally made up.

And really, before watching this film, I had no idea that people actually sculpted in butter.  Pretty clever past time for farmers I would imagine.

Amazingly for a film that probably nobody has ever heard of, the cast is filled with some great actors.  Alicia Silverstone?  I haven't seen her since Clueless.

Rob Cordrry as the foster dad was my favorite character in the film.  His chatting with the little girl about "what's the worst that could happen?" was my favorite part of the movie.


So is it worth your time?  That depends.  It's about 90 minutes of mostly entertaining storylines that converge into a climatic butter battle at the Iowa State Fair.  It's not gut-bustingly funny, but it remains amusing throughout.

Oh, and did I mention Hugh Jackman is in it?  He is, and his part is small, but quite memorable.  And his prayers to God?  Hilariously wrong in so many ways...


Available to stream on Netflix as of this writing.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 49 ~ Clueless

Back to Back Heckerling!

What can I say, the lady gets High School!  Here, she weaves Jane Austen's Emma into the ritzy life of Southern California High Schools and comes away with Clueless.

To summarize, Cher (Alicia Silverstone) wants to make everyone happy, for purely selfish reasons, and so begins to attempt to match-make for many people in and around her life.  From the teachers to her friends, she just can't help herself.

Unfortunately, Cher can't seem to find that elusive Mr. Right for herself, although he may be much closer than she can even begin to imagine.

The dialogue and situations are tremendously funny, and the actors all do a great job.

Much like Fast Times, Clueless unleashed a group of young actors on the public who were just making their starts in the business, or who had not received much exposure on the Silver Screen.

Alicia Silverstone is the most obvious.  Some TV movies and some music videos were her claim to fame.  Then there was the late Brittany Murphy and Stacey Dash as her two best friends.

On the guy side of things Breckin Meyer and Donald Faison played love interests in the tale, but my favorite was Paul Rudd in the first role I ever saw him in.  Hilarious in his part as an ex-son-in-law, he was an overnight sensation...almost a decade after his appearance in this movie. : )

Following Fast Times lead of a strong supporting cast of older character actors, Dan Hedaya won my favorite character as Cher's put upon father, and I've already listed my favorite line from the film.

One I'm saving for the guys that show up on my doorstep to court my daughters.

>: )